You Can Register Your Boat for BP's "Vessels of Opportunity" Program

It is now three weeks since the Deepwater Horizon exploded in the Gulf of Mexico and began spewing millions of gallon of oil into the waters off the shores of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. While BP has stated that 210,000 gallons are spilling daily, projections by independent sources put the spill at a much greater rate - some as high as over a million gallons a day. Luckily, thanks to favorable weather and crude technology, the spill has yet to wreak havoc on the coastlines.

BP has created a "Vessels of Opportunity" program which has out-of-work fishermen with boats 65 feet or larger standing by at a rate of $3000 a day. Though that may seem like big paydays the fishing industry continues to fear for the long term effect this spill will have on the seafood industry. If you would like to register your boat for the "Vessels of Opportunity" program call 281-366-5511.

BP pay rate for other size boats under the "Vessels of Opportunity" program are-

30 feet or smaller - $1200 at day

30-45 feet - $2500 a day

45-65 feet - $2000 a day

Two options to cap the spill are currently being considered - one is to place a tube into the well and draw the oil to the surface and the other is to place a 'top hat' over the well to do much the same thing. An attempt last week to place a 100 ton box over the source of the spill failed when freezing temps caused the emissions from the well to clog and make it unusable. At 5000 feet below the water's surface, fighting the spill becomes a job for robots and submarines. Human being would be crushed by the pressure one mile below the sea.

Fishermen who can no longer work in the oil polluted waters are standing by daily to assist in the placement of booms around the coastline to prevent the land from being destroyed by the oil. Tar ball have begun to show up on area beaches and are being easily removed by the Coast Guard and other volunteers.